hayfield Posted June 4, 2015 Author Share Posted June 4, 2015 I use Hermes. About 100 times in the past 9 months. I think their system needs some explanation. When you buy and print the label, during that process Ebay will show dispatched unless you have deleted the parcel from 'imported shipments' in the Hermes account page. Hermes will then mark the parcel 'awaiting collection/drop off' You pay extra for collection and for a small volume seller it makes no sense unless the parcel is heavy and again you pay extra for that with a 5kg overall weight limit. I fully understand that buying a label is not the same as sending it, pity someone does not tell eBay When the courier comes or you go to a corner shop drop off the parcel barcode is scanned. This is immediately shown on the Hermes account as 'parcel collected' This is the first time that Hermes have seen the parcel and you the seller will have had to have packaged the parcel and attached the pre-paid label. So for a number of parcels this could well be late in the day. That is evident by the message on the Hermes website, I checked the cost and its an extra 20p which must be cheaper than driving to the shop though might be inconvenient to wait in for the courier The Hermes courier will call at your home or at the drop off point once his van is empty of all the deliveries he has made. yes this is usually after 1pm but could be later. The parcel is off loaded at the hub and mine is about 25 miles away in the next town. I have experience that one of my parcels was destination in that town and it was delivered the following morning! At the hub parcels are sorted and put on an overnight service to other hubs, sorted into van runs which are on the label and loaded onto the van that is going to your buyers address. As it is scanned into the van the Hermes account shows 'with courier for delivery' Once delivered it is scanned again and then shown as 'delivered'. Hermes say they will deliver within 2 or 3 days ONCE THEY HAVE THE PARCEL and I must say that that seems to be the case. I do understand that they need the parcel to deliver it Less than half the buyers leave feedback to tell you it is there and they are content. Most buyers are very happy to receive the items promptly and in good condition. Sadly too many sellers post when they can be bothered and just use a padded envelope. I have some stories to tell about Hermes but they aren't relevant to this thread and in general I think they do a better job than the Post Office and are usually cheaper. I guess every delivery service has its moments and is as good as its weakest link I have just seen my local delivers person, looks to be enjoying the weather as in shorts and no top (sadly unlike Kentons person mine is not female!!). On checking the progress of my item it has not been sorted at the national hub yet, still showing at the local depot. Trouble with technology is that you can see what's happening. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
hayfield Posted June 4, 2015 Author Share Posted June 4, 2015 Well 22;19 and still not at the National hub from the local depot. Does not seem to be a very quick system, as its still on step 1 out of 4, Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bgman Posted June 4, 2015 Share Posted June 4, 2015 Quick one from me. When I use eBay I always ask the seller to send by Royal Mail and willingly pay the extra postage costs, think of me what you will. My local postie is a good mate and knows what to do with my parcels or large envelopes if I'm not at home, even to the point of calling me on my mobile to let me know ( I'm very lucky in that respect) . If he's not on shift his colleagues have all got to know and will do something similar. Hermes ........expensive parcels left under a black recycling bin turned upside down ( so no one can see it - yeah right bit bl**dy obvious) right outside my front door !!!!! Oh! And by the way I was in all day, not even a knock or use of my doorbell !!!! That said I ordered two books from completely separate retailers in deepest darkest Bavaria on Sunday afternoon on line and both arrived first thing Wednesday morning this week, and advised by email by the retailers that it had been sent. Make of that what you will. Good luck to all who order items and hope they arrive safely and give you much pleasure . Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
stewartingram Posted June 5, 2015 Share Posted June 5, 2015 Hermes - fantastic!....(not) My wife occasionally orders items from a ctalogue, with the Hermes tracking system. Though I do like the Royal Mail (I'm of the old school here), the catalogue items come with regularity, they take 4/5 days. We get notification from the catalogue upon despatch, and can guestimate the delivery pretty accurately. Hermes also allow tracking; the one we take notice of is the last one where it is out for delivery (usually the day we have guessed). That email usually arrives after the item has been delivered. No time given though. Next day we get another email saying "we have made a delivery"! We request the parcel carries a note "leave in green parcel box by door" but the Hermes lady in the beat-up Ford never does that, she usually just chucks it somewhere near the front door. We have a number of different Royl Mail staff; all speak when we see them in the street; they all drop parcels into our green box (word must have got around amongst them). I'm in favour of a state monopoly on mail/parcels delivery I must admit, like we used to have. It is a public service after all. Stewart Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Indge Posted June 5, 2015 Share Posted June 5, 2015 Well, we have never had a problem using Hermes, either sending or receiving. Any parcels taken to their local drop-shop have been delivered the next day. Like Kenton, we too have a reliable "Hermes Lady" (Does that make us Posh as well) and she makes sure that any packages for us are left at another address or just leaves her telephone number so we can call her. That's what I call service. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
micklner Posted June 5, 2015 Share Posted June 5, 2015 This week 3 days and no problem £1 cheaper then Royal Mail too. Another package sent via RM exactly the same time span. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 5, 2015 Share Posted June 5, 2015 Well 22;19 and still not at the National hub from the local depot. Does not seem to be a very quick system, as its still on step 1 out of 4, I wouldn't pay too much attention to Hermes tracking, John. Something I recently had delivered still showed step 1 of 4 the day after I received it... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
hayfield Posted June 5, 2015 Author Share Posted June 5, 2015 I wouldn't pay too much attention to Hermes tracking, John. Something I recently had delivered still showed step 1 of 4 the day after I received it... Just noticed that its been updated, sorted at the national hub yesterday at 4 pm at my depot by 9 pm, with my courier at 5:30 this morning (better look in the blue paper box) On the face of it looking much better than I thought, but lets see when it turns up Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
hayfield Posted June 5, 2015 Author Share Posted June 5, 2015 Message just up dated again (things are moving on) The first message was out with the local courier, next line now reads received with local courier at 10;15 I think Royal Mail tracking up dates the following day, I take that back, sent an item first class recorded and its now confirmed delivered at 10;06 (19 hours after I posted it). Very impressed Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
hayfield Posted June 6, 2015 Author Share Posted June 6, 2015 Arrived home today and no parcel, looked on the Hermes site and a message stating that no answer at 19;45 last night. Both in and both cars on drive, no card through the door. Started using Hermes web chat, no use what so ever, whilst I was web chatting a ring on the door. Low and behold the chap I saw yesterday plus shirt. Said the normal chap is on holiday and plenty of complaints about the relief courier. when asked about failed delivery he thought the chap may not have been able to find the property, SO WHY SAY WE WERE OUT!!. The packing was also awful (not Hermes fault) but says a lot about the seller taking his time to post. I took the trouble of sending a copy of the Web-chat and a short note (where I stated the things I was impressed about their system and what I was not) to Hermes, will be interesting to see if they bother to reply In one way Hermes is quite impressive, where you can see the delivery stages, on the other hand does not feel as secure as the Postie in uniform and delivering at a civilised time (even though I may be out) Just won another item, thankfully it will be the postie delivering it Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
hayfield Posted September 4, 2015 Author Share Posted September 4, 2015 Having Hermes problems again Seller delivered the parcel on Tuesday 5 pm(ish) which is not unreasonable and to Hermes credit they got on with it straight away. Arrived at the local delivery centre I think on Wednesday and Picked up by the local courier at 5 am yesterday. OK fine with that, no other messages last night or this morning. But on getting home tonight a message saying failed delivery yesterday at 6.55 am. Both me and the misses were both in and up at that time, and no card through the door saying failed delivery !! Now I am not bothered if the courier cannot deliver it straight away but I do have some issues as the same thing happened in May, in so much that they showed a failed delivery. When I enquired about the failed delivery the local courier/agent said it was a temporary agent who could not be bothered to deliver the item My first concern is that agents are putting false information on the web site, we should be able to trust those who are handling our goods. Now if it is with the courier and its valuable what security is he using to store said property ? secondly is he insured ? I have no problems with those who wish to build their own businesses, but when they use private cars/ deliver at night etc is this the type of company that should be handling valuables? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kenton Posted September 4, 2015 Share Posted September 4, 2015 I'll swap our Hermes and you can have our new postie. Our usual guy, very chatty and had really got used to the peculiarities of our round, has gone AWOL and everyone is saying he is missed. The new lady is useless. Yesterday, a note through the door saying no one was in so the usual drive and collect. I heard the letterbox flap and caught her about 10 yards from the door. "What the meaning of this?" "Oh I rang the bell several times and no one answered." "No you didn't - my office/workshop is next to the door". "I rang the bell, I couldn't hear it ring, perhaps it isn't working" "Here, listen - pressing the doorbell - 5 second cacophony of Westminster chimes - anyway why didn't you knock. "Oh, it didn't work for me! I didn't knock these are big houses you wouldn't hear me." Oh well I'll take the post anyway now I'm here in front of you" "oh dear I don't seem to have it in my bag, I'll deliver it tomorrow ... scurries of into the distance" .... Today I received all the post for the 11 houses in the road! - no parcel, ... I think I might have upset her. I guess the moral is that there are good posties and good Hermes but like everywhere there are rogues. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold 30801 Posted September 4, 2015 RMweb Gold Share Posted September 4, 2015 ParcelForce are not endearing themselves to me right now. They've had my Wingnut Wings kit for a month now without managing to deliver it to me. They have however managed to charge a customs fee for it. Twice. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
stewartingram Posted September 4, 2015 Share Posted September 4, 2015 My daughter was expecting her new phone; she had been informed that it needed to be signed for, and would have to have a form of id, such as a driving licence. All fine, except she would be at work, so she asked my wife to house-sit, waiting for the delivery to come. CJ (I'll call the daughter "CJ" and the wife "MI" to preserve identities) presented her driving licence to MI, and suggested she could sign for the parcel with the name CJ. I was sure this wouldn't work - CJ is in her 30s, MI in her 60s, so hardly alike (and no offence intended). Anyway, late last Wed morning MI walks over. Delivery is timed for between 12 and 1pm. The courier actually arrived at 12:01 - very good. He asked for id, the licence (with photograph) was presented, he accepted it. Handed over the parcel, MI signed it CJ....! No questions asked. Now tell me that is a secure method of delivery? Driver was happy to get on his way though, no wonder these firms are poor. Stewart Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
hayfield Posted September 4, 2015 Author Share Posted September 4, 2015 I think all these companies are as good as the weakest link, I am lucky my posties around here are very good. I could be very wrong but there seems something a bit wrong with Hermies. I think I have a bit of a Jack the Lad unlike Kenton's lady Hopefully it will come tomorrow and I will enquire as to what was the problem this time. Now there was a Royal Mail package waiting for me this evening, the item I won on Wednesday. Royal mail 2 Hermies 0 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
hayfield Posted September 5, 2015 Author Share Posted September 5, 2015 There is now a new message (2 days late) 12:03 received by the recipient local courier, which is 5 hours after he/she tried to deliver it. Do they know what's going on ? I would much rather had received it via the Royal Mail, no frills but they do deliver next day most of the time Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
wombatofludham Posted September 5, 2015 Share Posted September 5, 2015 I must admit most of my local couriers and the posties are brilliant. I had two myHermes parcels dropped off this week within 48hours, although bizarrely I got an e-mail from Hermes 24hours later saying they had delivered my parcel. The one whose contents I was reading at the time. I suppose if you live in one of those areas where the couriers are jail-bait or couldn't-give-a-flying-duck types it might be useful to know they think they've delivered it just in case it's at the local crack den or the nutty cat lady down the road, but for me iot was a tad superfluous.Mind you, for speed of delivery I think the Royal Mail must take the Blue Riband for this month. Item ordered yesterday evening off eBay, arrived this morning BEFORE mid-day. Blackpool to Fairbourne in just over 12 hours! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jinty3f Posted September 5, 2015 Share Posted September 5, 2015 Not so much about timing or tracking of parcels, but this video says something about - some - of Hermes delivery agents. The video seems clear enough to be able to identify the agent if Hermes really wanted to....... http://www.dailymail.co.uk/video/news/video-1211548/Shocking-video-shows-Hermes-delivery-person-THROWING-parcel.html Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
hayfield Posted September 5, 2015 Author Share Posted September 5, 2015 The parcel arrived this afternoon, a very nice lady who had a decent van and totally apologetic. According to her my local courier is on holiday, the relief courier seems to have been hoarding parcels rather than deliver them, she and I guess others are doing their best to rescue the situation. I am lucky to have a good little team at the village delivery office, having said that the Royal Mail does seem to have upped its game as most of the items I send first class are delivered the next day even at the other end of the country. The only criticism is the steep rise in cost between a large letter and small packet, the service is excellent though. In 4 months both parcels sent to me using Hermes have had the same problem, it may be coincidence but not having a salaried delivery system and seemingly paying very little per packet to the self employed delivers may in some cases result in a less than reliable delivery chain. Or corners that have to be cut Had there not have been a tracking system perhaps I may not have got too worried, but the messages just did not add up on the time lines. Hermes did do well in getting the item to the nearest delivery point. But then when they farm out the delivery side to contractors that's where both times it has gone wrong. As far as I am concerned Royal Mail (including the Post Office) still have the standard others have to match Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Colin_McLeod Posted September 16, 2015 RMweb Gold Share Posted September 16, 2015 I'll swap our Hermes and you can have our new postie. Our usual guy, very chatty and had really got used to the peculiarities of our round, has gone AWOL and everyone is saying he is missed. The new lady is useless. Yesterday, a note through the door saying no one was in so the usual drive and collect. I heard the letterbox flap and caught her about 10 yards from the door. "What the meaning of this?" "Oh I rang the bell several times and no one answered." "No you didn't - my office/workshop is next to the door". "I rang the bell, I couldn't hear it ring, perhaps it isn't working" "Here, listen - pressing the doorbell - 5 second cacophony of Westminster chimes - anyway why didn't you knock. "Oh, it didn't work for me! I didn't knock these are big houses you wouldn't hear me." Oh well I'll take the post anyway now I'm here in front of you" "oh dear I don't seem to have it in my bag, I'll deliver it tomorrow ... scurries of into the distance" .... Today I received all the post for the 11 houses in the road! - no parcel, ... I think I might have upset her. I guess the moral is that there are good posties and good Hermes but like everywhere there are rogues. I don't usually dob people in as anyone can make mistakes or have a bad day, but your experience here is too much. Also delivering the wrong mail the next day negates any excuse of "having a bad day" on the previous day. I would be reporting this madame to the Royal Mail. Though she does know where you live Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kenton Posted September 16, 2015 Share Posted September 16, 2015 I don't usually dob people in as anyone can make mistakes or have a bad day, but your experience here is too much. Also delivering the wrong mail the next day negates any excuse of "having a bad day" on the previous day. I would be reporting this madame to the Royal Mail. Though she does know where you live What good would it do? None. I have no faith in the management of the post office and besides she was not the regular, so either a trainee or just unfamiliar with the round. I don't see that reporting it is going to improve my day or that of the temp postie. It is simply inconvenience and I do understand the pressures of having to carry all these extra parcels around, knocking on doors with no answer, and having to move quickly on to the next house. I was just miffed at the attitude and the blatant lie of having rung the bell when in reality the card had probably been made out in the depot as the parcel was not in the bag. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Colin_McLeod Posted September 18, 2015 RMweb Gold Share Posted September 18, 2015 Your call Kenton, but it is the "attitude and blatant lie" and not even having the parcel with her that makes it unacceptable. Regards Colin Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
hayfield Posted September 18, 2015 Author Share Posted September 18, 2015 Today I received all the post for the 11 houses in the road! - no parcel, ... I think I might have upset her. Glad to know you are the same in real life as you are on the web. I will be on the lookout tomorrow Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
hayfield Posted October 11, 2015 Author Share Posted October 11, 2015 It looks like we have a new My Hermes delivery person as I received this week another item via My Hermes, though is it good value/service for the seller ? Delivered to Parcel shop Monday 13:45 Picked up by Hermes Tuesday 12:30 Out with local courier Thurs 5:03 Received by recipients local courier Thurs 9:56 Delivered Thurs 10:43 The seller saved all of 30p on Royal mails 2nd class small packets and 80p on first class, had he used Royal Mail then at first class the chances are it would have been delivered on Tuesday and the 2nd would have been delivered on Wednesday. Now the seller did well by posting before 2pm, but by using Hermes looses a day in doing so. Unlike my previous delivery person what I believe is a new courier did well in delivering the item so quickly. But its the bit in the middle coupled by an extremely poor customers service I received from Hermes both times that has made up my mind Royal Mail is so much better. The seller charged £3.80 which is reasonable, but another loco I bought at the same time and paid £1 extra postage arrived on Tuesday(2 days earlier), even though I paid a bit extra on postage, this seller (Oakleafomx) got a very glowing feedback (by the way have bought items many times from this couple, not cheap any more but excellent items coupled with excellent service) and whilst the seller did very well in posting on Monday lunchtime I believe the courier's service is at best average At the end of the day with this item receiving on Thursday caused no issues, may have though if I were waiting for a part. But for a seller, is it the service a buyer wants (especially looking at the first two deliveries). I find buyers do appreciate receiving items promptly, they even seem to appreciate hand made boxes from recycled card. Now what's all this ramble about. It's my view as a buyer using a postal delivery service, that as a seller the Royal Mail whilst being very slightly dearer offers a vastly superior service, which will help protect my seller rating Still I have just ordered some boxes and have just had a note to say they are coming via My Hermes, lets see what happens Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
stewartingram Posted October 11, 2015 Share Posted October 11, 2015 The old adage, you get what you pay for? Stewart Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.